For the second year in a row, Musicfest NW has added an extra night to the schedule, pushing the traditional three weekend nights of music and clubhopping to include a bookend of single-club dates on the Wednesday opening (Berbati's Pan) and Sunday close (Crystal Ballroom) of the event.

While having Musicfest 2009 start at a single medium-sized venue this year added some focus to the sprawling nature of the experience, it also meant that by 9 P.M. on the first night, a healthy line of festival patrons in the rain on the street were already grousing about being unable to get inside the club.

-- Curt Schulz, Special to The Oregonian

From the crush at the door, many stink-eyes and muttered oaths were offered to V.I.P wristband holders (guest list people, music industry types, band members, and those with the wherewithal to pony up the $160 for the value-added wristbands) who got to jump the line ahead of the regular wristband attendees and waltz right on in.

And although Musicfest NW has succeeded as a much fan-friendlier event than the North By Northwest festival it replaced in 2001, having such an immediate divide between insiders and outsiders on the first night is a rough start to what promises to be a great weekend.

Expect overcrowding and lines to continue being an issue as the festival weekend continues. At least by Thursday night there'll be so many venues operating (many within walking distance to each other) that wristband holders turned away due to capacity crowding can just walk into the next spot down the street to make serendipitous discoveries; walking into a club unawares and being blown away by what's happening onstage is one the event's strongest points.

Full disclosure: as an Oregonian contributor, I get to waltz right in through the long lines. My apologies for being a hipster jerk, and yes, I did go out my way to get to get these Buddy Holly specs.

Although presenting the classical instruments in a nightclub setting and covering rock tunes on cellos is hardly an original idea (Helsinki's Apocalyptica have been cranking out Metallica and Pantera covers for years), our local practitioners of the form have united the two great stylistic themes of Portland's creative class (earnest, overeducated nerditude and aggressive quirkiness) and with equal parts style and smarm, as witnessed in the form of the group's official T-shirt: "I Heart PCP."

While most of the set tended toward soulful art film soundtrack work, it was a few handpicked covers (including OutKast's "Hey Ya," and Britney Spears' "Toxic") that seemed to provoke the greatest crowd responses.

Unfortunately, sound issues dampened a lot of group's potential power, and what should have occasionally been strident (full-tilt bowed cellos can sound like the hounds of hell chasing after you up close) came across as a bit twee here and there.

In all fairness, the club's stage isn't at all conducive to these instruments, and we can assume that the Berbati's sound crew has next to zero opportunities during their regular working year to practice proper mic placement and mixing for a string-and-percussion ensemble. No matter- the crowd ate it up and asked for more.